


Talk Less, Smile More.

by lol-phan-af (lol_phan_af)



Category: 18th Century CE RPF, 19th Century CE RPF, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: F/M, Gen, I make burr out to be kind of an asshole, Implied/Referenced Cheating, because he was kind of an asshole, but i digress, like a literal cheating gold digging asshole, negativity, overusage of the word will and smile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-04 01:58:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6636496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lol_phan_af/pseuds/lol-phan-af
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Burr tells Hamilton to talk less and smile more, it is not meant to be an insult.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talk Less, Smile More.

When Burr tells Hamilton to talk less and smile more, it is not meant to be an insult. It is meant to be a warning that nothing is going to get done if you can't fake a smile and take things with it as they come your way. It's meant to be some sort of an awakening. Burr doesn't think Hamilton listens.  
  
When Aaron was only a toddler, his father and mother died within months of each other, abandoning him and his sister. He doesn't even remember their faces. Whenever a man that his father apparently knew begins to go off in tangents about how great of a man he was, or when someone tells him what a kind woman his mother was, Burr shuts his mouth, smiles, and listens. He doesn't know either of the people they're talking about, so he has nothing to say.  
  
At eleven, he enrolled to the College of New Jersey. When they rejected him for being too young, he smiled and said he understood. He didn't.  
  
He was only sixteen when he graduated from the College of New Jersey. He lost track of how many people told him his parents would have been proud of him. He just grinned and nodded at them, moving on to have same redundant phrase repeated to him from almost every person he saw and in every letter he received.  
  
He joined the Continental Army when he was nineteen and traveled across the Northwest of the nation and into Quebec under Benedict Arnold. When he got there, he was promoted to captain and aide-de-camp by General Richard Montgomery. He never hesitated in fighting, willing to go to any means if it meant America's freedom. His courage earned him a place in Washington's staff, but he quit after two just weeks, skin itching to fight again. When someone asked him if he liked fighting for the exhilaration of it all, or if he thought that he deserved more than the rest of them, he smiled and walked away in silence.  
  
He saved a whole brigade in Kip's Bay and Washington failed to commemorate Burr in any manner, shape, or form. He could have easily demanded his acknowledgement or he could have talked about the tragedy/honorability of good deeds left unnoticed. Instead, his mouth curved upward and he didn't utter a word that wasn't congratulating the very same people he was envious of.  
  
When he says it to Hamilton, it's a phrase that he has lived by since he was young and will live by until the day he dies. It's advice both to Alexander and to himself.  
  
He will take the advice not once but twice when Theodosia looks at him with her eyes full of tears when she finds out that one of their servants is pregnant with his child.  
  
Theodosia herself will take the advice when other people find out about it. She'll walk with her head held high, shoulders back, and eyes cold as she listens to the other women gossip about her on the street. She'll smile at them and watch as embarrassment covers their faces and their hearts pound in their chest.

Aaron Burr will take the advice when she dies. He will stare down at their eleven year old daughter, forcing himself to be strong for her. He will ignore the advice and allow himself to react when she goes to sleep that night. He takes the advice again when they bury her.  
  
He'll run for president when he's forty. When someone questions his opinion on slavery, he'll respond that it's a serious situation, but never truly says what he is going to think. He will come in fourth. He'll smile and tell them all that it was rewarding to receive any votes at all. He'll complain to himself later that night.  
  
When he's forty-three, he is going to duel John Church, who would have accused Burr of taking bribes. They're both going to shoot at each other, but they are both going to miss. Mr. Church will apologize to him, saying that he had no right to accuse him without proof and ask that they walk away as equals. Burr will ignore his urge to club the man with the butt of his dueling pistol, grimace at him, and they'll shake hands and walk away from the field unharmed.  
 When he runs for president again, he's forty-four and this time he'll get tacked with vice president. He'll smile, accept the position gratefully, and do all he can in his term.  
  
He's going to kill Hamilton when he's forty-seven. When someone asks him how he feels after taking his life, he won't say anything. He'll look mildly inconvenienced, and then ignore the question as if his life depended on it.  
  
He will give his farewell letter with a tight-lipped smile, and he'll move many people in the audience to tears. It won't be the only time he had ever done the opposite of his advice, but it will be the first time he won't regret it.  
  
He won't follow the advice when Theodosia dies, either. The reminder of his wife will be gone, his eldest daughter will be dead, and he will break down. Afterwards, he'll come back to himself, smile, and try not to think about the boat trip that she never came back from.

He follows his advice religiously after that. He follows it when he remarries at seventy-seven. He'll watch as his fifty-eight year old bride kisses him, sealing their union. He'll smile at her when he starts to use her money for speculation, and he'll never utter a word to mention it. He'll smile when she divorces him, claiming it was only for the best.  
  
He won't talk of the pain when he has a stroke, mostly because all of his speech comes out slurred. When he wakes up he'll grin weakly and say that he's just lucky to be alive.  
   
When he dies, people will say that he was a man that always had the most wonderful smile.

**Author's Note:**

> this took me six hours to write because I didn't want to start screaming about how much more I hate Burr than before. This isn't even like happy it's SO negative what the fuck,,,anyway.


End file.
